EV Charging with Solar Parking Canopies at CCBC Campuses

Artist’s rendering of the solar canopies planned for the Dundalk campus of CCBC

The Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) has started construction of a 5.1-megawatt solar generation system that will have approximately 16,500 photovoltaic panels on canopies that will cover more than 1,400 parking spaces at the college’s three main campuses in Dundalk, Essex and Catonsville.

Eleven ChargePoint charging stations, capable of charging 22 electric cars at once, will be installed as part of the project. There will be four dual-port charging stations each at Essex and Catonsville and three at the Dundalk campus.

Constellation Energy will own and operate the CCBC solar power systems. CCBC will purchase the electricity generated by the solar panels from Constellation under a 20-year power purchase agreement. The system is expected to generate around 6.5 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, enough to meet about 27 percent of the college’s electricity needs.

“This zero-emissions system will allow the college to demonstrate the viability of clean energy resources and provide charging stations for plug-in electric vehicles to students, faculty and our local community,” said Gary Fromer, senior vice president of Distributed Energy for Constellation.

Work on the solar canopies has already begun at CCBC Dundalk. Lots #3 and #4 are closed this week due to the construction. The EV charging stations are expected to be available by the end of the year. A use fee will be implemented but the amount has not yet been determined.